By 2016, students will be able to sit in their dorm room chairs free from the constant fear of falling backward.
The Department of Housing and Residence Education announced Thursday its plans to replace all the student room furniture in residence halls by 2016.
The department has an ongoing replacement plan for residence hall furniture, but Sharon Blansett, the assistant director of housing, said the department had fallen behind schedule on replacements.
"We decided that to catch up, we needed to replace all of the student furniture in the next five years," she said. "Then we can start fresh."
Upward of 7,500 beds, mattresses, dressers, desks and desk chairs will be replaced by furniture designed to be space-efficient and look more modern.
About 25 percent of student residence hall furniture will be replaced this summer, beginning with Beaty Towers, Simpson Hall, Tolbert Hall, North Hall and late application triples campuswide - a project that will cost about $2.4 million.
Broward East and Weaver Hall will get new desk chairs, and all lounge furniture will be replaced in Jennings Hall.
The total cost of the five-year project is estimated to be more than $7.5 million.
Though the university is facing budget cuts from the state, the department of housing is an auxiliary program whose budget comes strictly from the rent paid by students.
"These are not state tax monies that are so tight right now," Blansett said. "These are monies that we've saved and budgeted over the years so we can do things like this."
